Who's Next?

Soon after, the news of Jack's death spread like wildfire. In this day and age, it was nearly impossible to hide something as serious as this. Of course, the mutants discussed who would be the most logical option for the takeover. Just about every person under Jack sector of the human population in Bonnet were zero stars.

While one-star mutants were common, they were not as common as their lesser halves. Even more rare were two-star mutants. The only known two star humans in this City of 500 million people, were Jack, Dan, and Heaven. Those who were close to ranking up were indeed hard to find.

The star system is a way to rank the power of mortals through the goddess of Order, although this is unknown by the lesser beings. Everyone starts out as a no star being, until they finally ascend. Star rank was usually a rough estimate of someone's power. You can 'rank up' by participating in a challenge given to them by the goddess. For humans, the highest recorded rank in recent history was a three-star Magic human.

This boosted their ego and became a major bragging right for those that use magic. They lived an exciting life by completing bounties for the government most of which were extremely challenging. After years of fighting the good fight, they mysteriously disappeared. To where, nobody knows. Eventually the next generation of humans made their own breakthrough. There were not only one or two, two-star humans. With them came a third! Each one of them represented a group within Bonnet City's society.

They were Jack, 'the juggernaut', a muscle based mutant, Heaven, 'Wildfire', the fire magic based human, and Dan, 'The Brain', a cybernetically enhanced human. Each of which became the pillars in this amazing city. They had so much respect on their names even the police officers and the mayor took heed to their words and would come to them in dire times.

With great power comes great tension. The three of them always butt heads on how things should be run.Social status was something everyone went by. Not only did it come down to your 'ability class', your status also depended upon what magic/mutant/techno ability you manifested.

Some people who were born with useless abilities tried to prove they could be just as powerful as the others. It doesn't always go as planned though.

In a more quiet part of the city mutants gathered for the first time in months. "I'm sure you all know why we are here.." A man dressed in a navy blue costume and mask spoke. His body and demeanor was something similar to a body builder which gave him quite the menacing aura. Everyone in this room would be shaking in fear if it weren't for his voice, "We need to discuss who should be the next leader of us mutants." He sounded like a kid speaking through the back side of a fan. This gave him a distorted but shrill voice.

"I would be a fool if I were not to offer myself up as the next leader. As you know I've been around much longer than most of you here, and dare I say I am the most experienced as well." His face took on a smug grin as if he truly believed his own words. He was certain that they would object so he waited in silence.

"I'm sorry BlackWing, but what makes you think you are ready for this much responsibility? For someone who has 'the most experience', you are fairly far from your ascendance. We can't have a novice one-star lead those of us who are merely a rock throw away from our rank up." This statement caused the room to erupt in low murmur and nodding heads.

"Silence Bitter Beast! Rank isn't everything, I can still best you in combat any day with my eyes closed!" BlackWing's outburst causes a few other mutants to snicker under their breath. However, they misjudged his hearing. Evidently his ears were sharper than they suspected because he turned to them. They nearly suffocated from the pressure coming from his glare. The few who laughed realized what would come next so they quickly got up and tried to run away. BlackWing did his best to resist the urge to hunt them down.

Bitter Beast shook his head. "Ahem- Anyways, as it stands, you may be one of the longest members of his upper group but there are plenty of other suitable candidates."

"How about me?" These words were quickly followed by gasps. Viktor Vancouver, aka VV or as they call him by his mutant name, 'Havoc.' He is a unique mutant who's currently on the rise, both Magics and Technos were envious of this super star.

"Oh shit.." Bitter Beast and BlackWing thought in unison.

BlackWing took initiative and spoke first. "We understand you may be getting popular, and we have no doubt in your combat capabilities, and are aware of your amazing growth potential-"

Bitter Beast quickly cut him off. "But, you aren't ready for such an important role. You should wait a few more years before trying to take on such a gargantuan task!"

Havoc knew what they were trying to do, and it wouldn't work on him. "Or..are you old farts scared of someone still in their youth taking all the spotlight? I bet you're both scared I am capable of bringing mutants to power in this city." His voice was silky smooth, one would think he could swindle the devil himself. His laid back and composed nature amplified his astounding charisma.

All of this came in stark contrast with the black and jade colored spiked biker outfit, lime green mohawk and radical facepaint.

Before, he rested his feet on the table with a slouched body. Now he stood on top of the large table looking at the two older men trying to belittle him.

Despite them trying to keep him from getting a piece of this enormous pie, Havoc felt like he was already on top of the world.

While some mutants looked at him with respect, most were quite terrified.

He had them trapped. Either they could admit they are scared, or dismiss him entirely. No matter the choice, they still lose tons of support.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue..?" Havoc said in a slightly sarcastic tone. Bitter Beast and BlackWing both knew what kind of situation they were in.

Although there was no real way to go about approaching it. "For fucks sake, we do not need this right now.." BlackWing thought to himself.

The silence in the room was so apparent, it could practically be cut with a knife! Their staredown lasted for a few more minutes before they decided, "We have no reason to be scared. Actually, we proudly..open our arms to the youth aiming to make a difference." BlackWing struggled to speak wishing he didn't need to.

Havoc turned, walked back to his seat, and plopped himself in his original seat. "Now all I have to do is sit back, relax and let everything take care of itself." He thought with a satisfied grin.

***

It was late at night Ego had just arrived at his home. The earlier events bummed him out so what else could he do besides take a long walk to clear his head. However the more he walked around, the more other beings he saw. One thousand, eight hundred and twenty three years ago was the day two worlds came together.

For the longest time things like super powers and magical abilities were commonalities in various forms of media be it videogames, TV shows, or movies. Who would have thought the things from those ancient stories were true. Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs? You name it, they existed. These beings came to our world as a sign of peace between everyone. No one wanted a war on their hands, and the human government needed a way to study the art of magic. After all, it was the most foreign concept to them.

Mutant abilities were explained away with comics featuring superheroes. People being faster than the speed of sound, stronger than a locomotive, and stretching their bodies to unbelievable shapes and sizes were to be expected.

Techno-humans, aka cyborgs and androids could be researched through other means of theories, comics and sci fi novels.

Sure one could look at old myths, legends and even certain RPG games for knowledge on magic. But, the humans needed first hand experience and valuable sources to explain away their lingering questions.

Most humans hosted no hostility towards these groups of fantasy beings, some still found it hard to believe that they existed! Ego however, was the outlier. "Has everyone truly forgotten about what happened all those years ago? These people come from the same place that monster came from. They are slowly trying to infect us and take over our planet. We humans cannot let this happen!" Propaganda was still possible nowadays, although it is way harder to detect due to the near perfection of the craft.

Ego was hit with the blunt end of it due to staying on social media. Lady luck had truly turned her back on him. In fact, she spat on his face and stomped his head on the curb! Ego lacked the affinity to manipulate mana, he had no traces of the mutant gene and to make things worse, his genetic potential for cybernetic enhancements was non-existent!

He was in fact the one person since the start of 7067 to have no hope in doing anything fun or exciting with his life. "If only I could do something about the vermin scurrying amongst us.." He sat on his couch flicking through channels, frustrated at his predicament.

As the night went on, Ego eventually fell asleep on his couch. However as he slept, a man shrouded in shadows stood over him. "Hey'a Mr. Ego.."